We can thank Macromedia for killing Java on the web; I think at least that amount to something. (Java for applets is a monstrosity that should have never seen the light of day. Thank god it died out.)

No you can thank MS for that with their incompatible Microsoft Java crap. Sun gave them a choice after they sued MS. Follow the license or drop Java. They dropped it. Lack of support in Windows plus incompatibilities left an image of Java as just a shitty thing for web pages with Joe Blow internet explorers.

Macromedia is good in some cases and Java is good in others. Going overboard and doing it poorly with either is just bad.

That's not the point. The point is that flash has no real use on the web. It, and animated GIFs should be consigned to the big /dev/null in the sky. Or for Windows advocates, the Recycle Bin, there to be erased from history forever.

I can see where a full programming language (i.e., Java) has its uses, slow as it is, but Flash? All it does is annoy me and a great deal of other people.

Oh yes, flash is so bad. That must be why your jealous open sores hacker friends are so desperate to reverse engineer it. This is typical of hackers. They can't innovate for themselves, so they crack some crappy copy to quality commercial software. Then they can rant about how much better it is than the commercial variant that had the same idea years ago and still supports more features despite the trekkies best efforts.

SVG is Adobe's vector project. Just look at this page, on adobe.com. Oh, and Flash has already been reverse-engineered; look at the Ming extensions for PHP. I might consider using them if Flash didn't disgust me.Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.

Ye damn i hate those STUUUUPID animated pictures and 'click-me' things. People who make those should be shot on the spot.
But seriously tho, Flash does have some legitimate uses. I needed to make a live graph to run on a webpage getting data from a server. *g* neva got round to completing it, but Flash seemed like the best way to go about it.
SVG woulda been another good option as well, but not quite as easy.
This graph needed to update fairly frequently, so I had a whole SOAP thing going to get data and stuff.
I reckon it's better than reloading the whole webpage each time.
So u c, Flash and stuff aren't always useless *g* But I agree - those stupid animated-for-the-hell-of-it pages really piss me off!

Flash is a fantastic format for animation and games. However, it could be improved.

I would be interested if Flash (and Director) detected when some moronic designer was writing some dumbfuck bells-and-whistles Flash script to be the only form of navigation on a website, that for no good reason takes 20 seconds of animation before actually going to the link you have clicked on. Flash should then detonate his overpriced G4 and Studio monitor, killing him instantly.

Alternatively, Flash should require him to feed his Masters degree in user interfaces into his scanner before allowing him access to any of the interactive features of Flash.

Java for applets is a monstrosity that should have never seen the light of day. Thank god it died out.

Well, nearly. It's a good idea if you need a continual dialogue with the web server (eg chatrooms), but the main problem is that the user interface classes are nothing like lightweight. They're based on the monstrosity that is X-Windows. Thanks, X-Windows.
adequacy.org -- because it isn't

...about things like having the Apple logo on their
Macintosh Apple laptops right way up all the time,
or the way all the little accessories and
doodads have the translucent and streamlined
look of a sex toy one has to assume that few
of Macintosh's customers care much about girls, or
what girls like.

Their Apple is a nice computer, though. Lacking
any fans (it doesn't need any) it is totally
silent in operation, and also has an amazingly
well-thought-out and ergonomic Graphical User
Interface created by battalions of brilliant
gay design experts.

Do you have kids? Have you ever spent any time with kids? Do you have any clue as to why Fischer-Price products have been so successful with kids?

Also.

Do you think you could tell us what is wrong with the usability of the Windows XP GUI without comparing it to things you don't understand? You know, criticise it on its own terms? Or in terms of other task-oriented GUIs?

I'm sure you've formulated ever so much orignal thought on the topic. Would you care to share it with us?

It was decided in court in the mid-nineties that copying interface designs was A-OK. Microsoft has committed no crimes by copying Apple, just as linux has, for once, committed no crimes by copying the windows interface. I don't understand how you could not be aware of these facts.

... for example:
I really like the way the pedals in my Citroen run "Throttle - Brake - Clutch" from right to left. It's really, really handy that when I jump into my Mum's Bedford, the pedals go "Throttle - Brake - Clutch", right to left. Or my g/f's Volkswagen - "Throttle - Brake - Clutch".
Now let's pull out a Czechoslovakian farm tractor - "Throttle - Brake - Clutch"! Sweet. Dead easy to remember.
Yep, copying interfaces is good.

Huh? (none / 0) (#51)

by Anonymous Reader on Sat May 18th, 2002 at 06:52:38 AM PST

Your pedals go "Throttle - Brake - Clutch"? You must be living in a strange country. Over here the go "Clutch - Brake - Throttle". All of them, from Citreon, to Volkswagens, to Honda's. Even the farm tractors (those with pedals, many use levers).

If you'll find the patents for the OSX features MS is supposed to have reproduced in WindowsXP, I'll consider that a reasonable comment. I believe the USPTO has a searchable database online. Off you go.

that the LZW patents issued by the USPTO (both of them - the IBM one and the identical Unisys one) expire in June next year. Personally, I'm really looking forward to using this 20-year old compression technology once it's unencumbered by patents.

Oh, and did you know that LZ77 with Huffman coding has always been patent-free, and it has better compression than LZW anyway?adequacy.org -- because it isn't

Mathematics works exactly the same regardless[1] what computers are used.

[1] except Intel Pentiums

are those the Peeler Twins? (none / 0) (#15)

by Anonymous Reader on Mon Apr 29th, 2002 at 10:11:39 PM PST

With names like Brandi and Kaytlin, Shagger O'Grady can only be a strip joint. I guess we can chalk up the moral of this tale to yet another example of Lunix Zealot's inability to parse social situations.

Obviously, you haven't had much contact with the American Generation Y kids currently coming of age. They all have names like Brandi and Kaytlin. In fact, I met a young lady today named "Kresli" and another named "Johhnie," both respectable college students. (Whether they have "Gone Wild" was not determined._
_
Do you suffer from late-night hacking? Ask your doctor about Protonix.

There appears to be a swing back the other way with Generation Z, though. All the girls in my husband's third-grade classes are named Hannah, Emily, Alexandra or Stephanie. Except the ones named Hu-lin or Chandendra.

I'm glad you finally stuck it to those bearded GNU hippies, they've been unreproachable for far too long. It is time for someone to step up (I say Microsoft) and stop the insanity, for the good of big business. I personally use Windows 2000 and have sex with many different beautiful women every day.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective
companies.
Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest ® 2001, 2002, 2003 Adequacy.org.
The Adequacy.org name, logo, symbol, and taglines "News for Grown-Ups", "Most
Controversial Site on the Internet", "Linux Zealot", and "He just loves Open Source
Software", and the RGB color value: D7D7D7 are trademarks of Adequacy.org. No part
of this site may be republished or reproduced in whatever form without prior written
permission by Adequacy.org and, if and when applicable, prior written permission by
the contributing author(s), artist(s), or user(s). Any inquiries are directed to
legal@adequacy.org.